Invasive surgical procedures such as open surgery for pathologies located within the body can cause significant trauma to intervening tissues. These procedures often require that the skin, tissue and/or vessels surrounding a surgical site be cut, removed, and/or repositioned so that a surgeon can access the site within the body. This trauma to the body may result in damage and scarring, as well as infection and long recovery.
Percutaneous minimally invasive surgical procedures are known that have attempted to overcome the above drawbacks of open surgery. Minimally invasive surgical procedures minimize disruption and trauma to the body to reduce recovery time and post-operative pain. For example, minimally invasive surgical techniques are employed for spinal and neurosurgical applications to access surgical sites within the body adjacent vital intervening tissues, in an effort to avoid damaging such vital tissues. Surgical retractors, mounting assemblies and other instruments are used in such minimally invasive procedures to increase the workspace of the minimally invasive surgical incision and adjacent areas used to access a surgical site. This disclosure describes an improvement over these prior art technologies.